


Tunnel Vision

by Shiori_Makiba



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Consider Your Headspace, Disfigurement, Gen, Heed Trigger Warnings, Implied/Referenced Torture, Introspection, Past Torture, Permanent Injury, Post-Betrayal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-04-25
Packaged: 2018-06-04 09:03:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6651520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shiori_Makiba/pseuds/Shiori_Makiba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone has blind spots. Some of them are just more literal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nick Fury

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Love Is for Children](https://archiveofourown.org/works/684731) by [Ysabetwordsmith](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ysabetwordsmith/pseuds/Ysabetwordsmith). 



> Inspired by a prompt from siliconshaman during my April 2016 Thank Muse Its Friday session.

Nick watched Agent Coulson's retreating back and wondered when he had started seeing more of Agent Coulson than Phil.

Most of his men wouldn't know the difference. They were convinced that, as Stark so eloquently put it, that Coulson's first name was Agent and roughly half believed that he had been made in a super secret SHIELD lab as the perfect handler. Some of them corrected that to the perfect agent.

The ones who realized that Phil Coulson was a very dangerous man did anyway. Too many of his men didn't recognize him as such. All they saw was a soft-spoken white guy with thinning hair in a suit who was usually just a voice in your ear and buried you in vengeful paperwork when you pissed him off. They didn't see someone who could thoroughly kick their ass if so inclined.

Neither Nick or the other senior agents made any effort to enlighten the ignorant masses. They wouldn't believe it. That someone who looked like a mild-mannered accountant was just as capable, if not more so, of putting them in a body bag as the biggest bruiser. Only experience taught that. He just hoped that for enough of them that learning experience wasn't fatal. 

You could find Phil in Agent Coulson if you knew what to look for. The little smile when something amused him, the way he could be a total smart-ass without sounding at all sarcastic, the flash of teeth that wasn't a smile but a baring of fangs.

Nick had been seeing a lot more of the latter two than the first one lately. Mostly over the Avengers. It was not an unexpected development. Coulson was a good man. He cared about people. That was perhaps not the greatest trait to possess in espionage but Nick acknowledged that in Phil's case it worked.

People talked to Coulson. Listened to him. Trusted him. Even people who didn't trust easily. Like the Avengers. Or himself.

He still trusted Phil Coulson but mostly he trusted Agent Coulson. He knew that come what may, Agent Coulson would do his job and do it extremely well. Some people would probably quibble with how he did but they wouldn't be able to quibble with the results.

He didn't trust Phil nearly as much as he used to. He didn't trust anyone like he once did. And many of them, like Phil, hadn't done a damn thing to deserve being treated like a bomb that hadn't gone off yet. It wasn't fair and it wasn't right to treat his friends like that . . . person.

But he felt how he felt. Besides life usually wasn't fair. And a lot of things that weren't right kept right on happening to people who didn't deserve them.

'Life's a bitch and then you die.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT (4/25): Typo and grammatical snarl correction.


	2. Phil Coulson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where has Nick gone?

Phil had known Nick Fury for a long time. Nick had recruited him and over the years, they had become friends. Good friends. The kind of friend you could trust, count on to be there when you needed them, to have your back.

The kind of friends they were until the . . . incident as SHIELD liked to refer to it. Because nobody likes to think about one of your fellow agents betraying you to the enemy. To set you up for torture and eventual death. Let alone a friend doing it. Someone you trusted leaving you to pain and misery. For money.

And not even very much money. Not that he got to spend it. Phil had made sure of that. After rescuing Nick from his capturers' non-existent mercy.

They had almost killed him. In addition to his cut-out eye, he had numerous broken bones, bruises deep enough to damage organs, and a raging infection from from all of the cuts and burns on his skin. Despite best efforts, he got another one in his empty eye socket.

Even with the best medical care that Phil could beg, borrow, and steal, he almost didn't make it. It took him months just to physically recover from his injuries. It would take him longer to adjust to the lack of depth perception. His fighting and shooting skills had taken the biggest initial hit. Fortunately he had other skills to bring to the table so SHIELD wasn't inclined to turning him loose but being restricted to non-field, non-undercover missions except as a handler was just one more bitter pill to swallow.

Nick had started withdrawing almost as soon as he woke up in the hospital. Pulling away after trauma was normal, especially when that trauma came with a side-order of betrayal so Phil didn't push. He just let Nick know that he was there if he wanted or needed to talk to someone.

But Nick never did. And at some point, he had stopped being Nick and started being Fury.

Phil didn't know Fury nearly as well as he had known Nick. And to be frank, he didn't like Fury very much. Fury was short-sighted, too focused on the short-term without seeing the long term consequences of his actions. He was beyond insensitive. Tony at his worst wasn't that blunt and rude.

Fury he wanted to take a flying leap, preferably into a volcano or something. Nick, however, he wanted to help. Was tired of seeing everything Nick had built for himself and everything he was be destroyed. But try as he might, he couldn't seem to reach Nick anymore.

But he keep trying. Because Nick was his friend. And Nick deserved better than Fury.

'Damnit, Nick, I wish you'd let me help.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: Minor typo correction.


End file.
